New Night Time Magic Kingdom Parade – Coming Soon?

A night time Magic Kingdom parade is what every Disneyphile misses the most at the Magic Kingdom. On October 9, 2016, The Main Street Electric Light Parade made its last trip passed the castle and ever since there has been no night time parade (outside the special parades for the holiday parties). Could the tides be changing? Glad you asked! This is what is what we’re going to discuss in today’s article.

Main Street Electrical Parade

A Little Disney Parade History

Grab a whiteboard and marker, we’re going to need it for this history lesson. One of the coolest things about Disney is how they move parades to the different parks around the world. Every night time parade has a different theme and name. The two primary night time Magic Kingdom parades were, The Main Street Electrical Parade and SpectroMagic.

The Main Street Electrical Parade is the original. Over the years the parade had three different stints at the Magic Kingdom. The first and longest run began on June 11, 1977 and went until September 14, 1991, then followed by shorter stints from May 1999 to April 2001 for the millennium celebration and June 2010 to Oct 2016. In between, SpectroMagic was the night time Magic Kingdom parade.

Currently, the only night time parades are Boo to You during Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party and Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Parade at Mickey’s Very Merry Christmas Party.

SpectroMagic Parade

What We Know

Back on May 21, 2018 on the Big Fat Panda YouTube channel former Vice President of the Magic Kingdom Dan Cockerell was a special guest. During the interview Dan provided tons of great insights. One of his biggest insights was hinting about a new night time Magic Kingdom parade coming to the park in time for the 50th anniversary. Let’s just say it was a strong hint.

At the beginning of 2019 we got more insights around a new night time Magic Kingdom parade when insider RightTurnCycle reported Disney ordered 50 new parade float chassis. 50?! Yes, 50. Our speculation is that Disney World will be bringing two new parades to the Magic Kingdom for the 50th anniversary, both a night time parade as well as a new afternoon parade. We’ll save the afternoon parade for another article, but we will say if you want to see Maleficent you may want to do it prior to the 50th anniversary.

Paint the Night Parade

Moving a Parade

One of the speculations is Disney would move one of the existing night time parades from another park to the Magic Kingdom, either Paint the Night (Disneyland Hong Kong) or Dream Lights (Tokyo Disneyland). According to Jim Hill of Jim Hill Media, Disney is planning on celebrating the 50th anniversary of Walt Disney World at all the Disney parks around the world. Based on this information it would be safe to assume that Disney would not be moving one of the other parades to Walt Disney World.

Our Thoughts

A night time Magic Kingdom parade is something the park has been missing for the past few years. We believe it is a foregone conclusion that the Magic Kingdom will have a new night time parade for the 50th anniversary.

Passholder Insights: If it’s anything like the previous night time parades we could expect the parade to run twice a night during the busier times of year. Make sure to drink some caffeine, you’ll want to stay up for the later parade to avoid the crowds.

It will be great to see a new night time Magic Kingdom parade rolling down Main Street. The best part is the parade should extend well beyond the celebration.